The California airsoft community might be saying in unison, "Here we go again." But they have much cause to worry this year as the call for brightly colored airsoft guns is much louder as compared when State Senator Kevin De León  introduced SB798 and SB1315. Senator De León bill that will be filed soon has wind on its back as he will use the shooting of Andy Lopez, the 13-year old carrying an airsoft gun when he was shot by the police in Sonoma County, as the issue when he files a new bill.

In our previous report, De León has already been meeting local leaders and police chiefs to build a coalition to again propose the measure, which previously was called SB798. The new bill, according to the LA Times has the support Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) and in the State Assembly, Assemblymembers Wesley Chesbro of Arcata, Marc Levine of San Rafael and Mariko Yamada of Davis who are from the Democratic Party.

And the Democratic Party in California are much stronger in the State right now after the 2012 elections, but there is still that hope that Governor Jerry Brown will not support the bill given that he is a gun owner himself.

We do not know yet what the actions of the airsoft community and industry in the State of California, especially the Airsoft Safety Foundation, will be. We have not seen signs of concern on their part, but they should prepare their best arguments once again when the bill gets filed. It will take more than just grassroots advocacy and they really need to lobby that the bill either does not get enough votes to move forward and signed into a law, or they will be able to water down the bill so they can provide provisions that can provide a win-win situation for advocates of regulation without compromising the industry.

Also, we do not know too if there are attempts from the industry and community to have a dialogue with Senator De León to discuss the concerns. There will always be room for compromise and politics is not always a "winner takes all" proposition.

Thus, there is time for the California airsoft to reach out and discuss with the Senator De León how they can put inputs into the bill that will both save the industry and protect the people from the dangers of carrying replica firearms in public. But, unless if both will not compromise, then it's time again to dust off the placards and update the list of legislators and their contact info, it's time for good ole grassroots campaigning and calling up/emailing State Senators and Assembly members once again.